The injured receives medical treatment in People's hospital of Zouping County, east China's Shandong Province, Aug. 20, 2007. (Xinhua/Wu Zengxiang) Photo Gallery>>>

    ZOUPING, Shandong, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a molten aluminium spill in east China's Shandong Province has risen to 14, but is unlikely to rise further as all the 59 injured are "stable" in hospital, sources with the local government said Monday.

    Hao Jian, head of the Zouping County People's Hospital, said some workers were still receiving surgery, and the hospital had arranged for more than 30 doctors and 40 nurses to provide treatment.

    The accident occurred as workers gathered for a morning meeting in an aluminium plant affiliated to the Weiqiao Pioneering Group Co., Ltd. in Zouping on Sunday.

    Molten aluminium at a temperature of about 900 degrees Celsius spilt from its container and produced a strong airflow which threatened around 82 people in at least two adjacent workshops.

    Fourteen workers were confirmed dead, said Pan Yulan, deputy head of Zouping County.

    The roof of the workshop was blown off in the accident, its windows smashed and walls cracked. The eight-meter-high, single-story workshop was 45 meters long and 27 meters wide.

    "I heard a loud bang, and then the lights blacked out. Then my mind just went blank," said Wang Lingwei, a technician who was adjusting equipment at the time.

    Local authorities have launched an investigation into the accident.

    The Weiqiao Pioneering Group Co., Ltd is one of China's largest textile manufacturers. It is also involved in aluminum production and thermal electricity. The group employs about 170,000 people.

    Four months ago, thirty-two workers were killed and six others injured when molten metal spewed at a steel plant in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

    The accident occurred on April 18 in a workshop in Qinghe Special Steel Corporation, in Tieling City, when a steel ladle -- used for pouring molten steel -- suddenly sheared off from the iron rail linking it to the blast furnace.

    The ladle, two meters in diameter and containing 30 tons of liquid, was moving into pouring position above a worktable when it fell, throwing white-hot molten metal at around 1,500 degrees Celsius into a room where workers had gathered as they changed shifts. The liquid metal engulfed the room, bursting through the door and windows and burying the workers.

    Last Friday 181 miners were trapped in two separate coal mines in Shandong due to flooding. Rescue efforts are going on.

    The government has vowed to avoid further mining accidents, setting a goal of reducing the death rate to 2.1 for every one million tons of coal produced by 2010, down from 2.81 in 2005. The2005 rate was 70 times worse than the United States and seven times than Russia and India.